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POLISCI 227:U.S. Immigration Politics

This course presents an overview of immigration in the United States. We will focus on current policies, U.S. immigration history, individual immigrant groups, economic causes and consequences of immigration, attitudes toward immigrants, U.S. national identity, immigrant political behavior, undocumented immigration, immigrants and public education, language barriers and policies, and immigration reform. Although the course is crafted with a focus on the U.S. as a whole, we will also spend a little time at the end of the quarter narrowing in on the California context, before taking a broader look at immigration in Western Europe to gain a comparative prospective on immigration. Finally, while we will discuss immigrant groups beyond Latinos, the course will disproportionately focus on Latino immigrants, as this is by far the largest immigrant group in the United States.

Normative political theory combined with positive political theory to better explain how major texts may have responded to and influenced changes in formal and informal institutions. Emphasis is on historical periods in which catastrophic institutional failure was a recent memory or a realistic possibility. Case studies include Greek city-states in the classical period and the northern Atlantic community of the 17th and 18th centuries including upheavals in England and the American Revolutionary era.

All forms of democracy require some kind of communication so people can be aware of issues and make decisions. This course looks at competing visions of what democracy should be and different notions of the role of dialogue in a democracy. Is it just campaigning or does it include deliberation? Small scale discussions or sound bites on television? Or social media? What is the role of technology in changing our democratic practices, to mobilize, to persuade, to solve public problems? This course will include readings from political theory about democratic ideals - from the American founders to J.S. Mill and the Progressives to Joseph Schumpeter and modern writers skeptical of the public will. It will also include contemporary examinations of the media and the internet to see how those practices are changing and how the ideals can or cannot be realized.

This course examines the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and engages both in a dialogue with critics. Can a democracy which emphasizes people thinking and talking together on the basis of good information be made practical in the modern age? What kinds of distortions arise when people try to discuss politics or policy together? The course draws on ideas of deliberation from Madison and Mill to Rawls and Habermas as well as criticisms from the jury literature, from the psychology of group processes and from the most recent normative and empirical literature on deliberative forums. Deliberative Polling, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a key case for discussion.

This multidisciplinary course combines different approaches to how GIS and spatial tools can be applied in social science research. We take a collaborative, project oriented approach to bring together technical expertise and substantive applications from several social science disciplines. The course aims to integrate tools, methods, and current debates in social science research and will enable students to engage in critical spatial research and a multidisciplinary dialogue around geographic space.

POLISCI 245R:Politics in Modern Iran

Modern Iran has been a smithy for political movements, ideologies, and types of states. Movements include nationalism, constitutionalism, Marxism, Islamic fundamentalism, social democracy, Islamic liberalism, and fascism. Forms of government include Oriental despotism, authoritarianism, Islamic theocracy, and liberal democracy. These varieties have appeared in Iran in an iteration shaped by history, geography, proximity to oil and the Soviet Union, and the hegemony of Islamic culture.

Crossdisciplinary colloquium; required for the M.A. degree in African Studies. Open to advanced undergraduates and PhD students. Addresses critical issues including patterns of economic collapse and recovery; political change and democratization; and political violence, civil war, and genocide. Focus on cross-cutting issues including the impact of colonialism; the role of religion, ethnicity, and inequality; and Africa's engagement with globalization.

POLISCI 291:Political Institutions

This course focuses on the role of political institutions in shaping policy outcomes around the world, with special attention to the United States. Students will become familiar with a wide range of theoretical approaches to the study of institutions, and they will learn the basics of applied quantitative empirical analysis. Enrollment is restricted to Political Science Research Honors Track students.

POLISCI 292:Political Behavior

This research seminar will survey important topics in the study of mass political behavior including public opinion, political participation, partisanship and voting. Open only to students in the Political Science Research Honors Track.

POLISCI 293:Research Design

This course is designed to teach students how to design a research project. The course emphasizes the specification of testable hypotheses, the building of data sets, and the inferences from that may be drawn from that evidence. It is only open to students in the PS Research Honors Track.